I am the old, fiery-faced man from the senior department.

Bai Zhou feigned slight annoyance and gently patted the girl's head.

"Oh, sorry, sir. I'll be more careful next time!"

"And old man, your tail is digging into me!"

The girl released his waist, but instead of reflecting on her actions, she preemptively accused him of wrongdoing and started complaining about Bai Zhou.

"Hmph, who told you to be so impulsive and picky all the time, resulting in you being so thin and weak, and now you're blaming me."

"Her chest was practically bare... her chest was practically bare..."

The girl's confident demeanor suddenly turned dejected as she squatted on a cloud, counting circles on her fingers.

"...Alright, alright."

Bai Zhou gently patted the girl's head and comforted her:

"You're only sixteen, you're still growing, things will get better."

"Really, sir?"

The little dragon cub tilted its head back, its moon-shaped eyes watery, looking rather dull and not at all clever.

"Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?"

"If it doesn't heal properly, Grandpa, won't I be disliked?"

"...What nonsense are you talking about? Anyone who dares to dislike my Ah Jin, I'll teach them a lesson."

"Hey! You're the best, old man!"

The baby dragon pounced on him again, rubbing against his back with a big smile.

Let's go back to episode 42 and explore the old man's past (I'm so curious!)

"Grandpa...I'm so tired...I want to be carried!"

"You're such a big person... Okay, okay, don't pull my tail, I'll carry you on my back, alright?"

"Grandpa...hehehe, Grandpa."

The girl hung herself on the back of the dragon, grinning foolishly.

"Don't move your tail, or I'll lose my balance and throw you off again."

Noticing the tightness around his tail, Bai Zhou fiercely scolded the little girl on his back.

"Sigh... but the old man's tail is quite interesting."

The girl pouted and sullenly released the white-blue tail, but soon she grinned and smiled again.

"Oh, right, Grandpa, let's go get some roasted lamb trotters for dinner!"

"can."

Bai Zhou smacked his lips and agreed.

"Hehehe, the old man has such a craving."

"What right does that little glutton have to talk about me?"

"It was all because of that old man who lured me with candied hawthorns. He promised to stay home and wait for him to come back so he could take me to buy some, but he didn't come back until almost dawn. If he had come back any later, I would have only seen my grandson who had fainted from hunger."

The girl raised her snow-white chin and rested it against Bai Zhou's shoulder, rubbing her soft face against his ear to express her dissatisfaction.

"Okay, okay, it was my fault. But I still took my little glutton, Jin, to buy candied hawthorns the next day. Even though they were so sour, she still wanted to eat them."

"Oh... Grandpa, why is your memory so good?!"

The girl lay on his back, tightly hugging his neck, and a soft, shy moan escaped from her lips.

"Haha, a bad memory won't do. It would be terrible if I misremembered the people's prayers."

"Stop, stop, old man. It's time to rest now. Let's not talk about these things, okay?"

The young woman didn't want to listen to her grandfather talk about official business the whole way.

"Okay, I won't say, I won't say..."

Knowing that the little girl didn't like him talking about these things all the time, Bai Zhou stopped talking and instead chatted with her about what seasonings they used when eating lamb that night. As he expected, this kind of topic immediately piqued the little girl's interest, and she chattered away like a cheerful little pigeon, adding a lot of fun to the otherwise tedious journey.

When he got home, he went inside to make tea during the day. Just as he put the water on the stove, the little girl's voice came into the room.

"Old man!"

"what happened?"

Hearing the call, Bai Zhou went out of the house and looked into the yard.

"Still no news."

As usual, the little girl went to check the bird's nest in the big locust tree in the yard, but there was no letter, not even a single bird feather.

"No... then don't worry about it, Ah Jin, come down quickly."

"Here you are, old man!"

The girl jumped down from the tree branch and landed steadily in her grandfather's arms.

"Will a winged beast really fly over carrying a message?"

The girl fell to the ground from the old man's arms, brushed the leaves off her clothes, and asked him in confusion.

Ever since she came to this small courtyard with the old man, she has seen him standing blankly under the tree for at least an hour every day. Out of curiosity, she once asked him about it, and the old man replied that he was waiting for a letter from a friend.

"Although... old man, is your friend... really still alive?"

"She...of course she is there."

Seeing the little girl's "I didn't mean to break the taboo" look, Bai Zhou chuckled and gently rubbed her head.

"It's just that we had a disagreement back then, and I made her angry. As for now... she's probably still angry."

"Sixteen years... so many years and you still haven't gotten over it... what exactly did you do, sir?"

Or is it that the old man's friend is a very stingy person?

“These are all old stories, but I don’t regret doing them.”

"So what exactly is it, huh..."

As the daytime girl was lost in her memories again, she felt as if her heart was being scratched by a kitten.

"Hmm...do you want to hear it?"

"Of course! Wait a minute... Grandpa, please have a seat."

The girl suddenly shook her head and hurriedly ran into the house.

A moment later, she came out carrying two boxes of pastries and a pot of tea.

"Hehe, old man, take your time drinking."

He poured tea for Bai Zhou, and the little girl sat on the stone chair with some snacks, looking at him expectantly.

"Well... this story goes back to your grandfather's time."

Bai Zhou took a sip of tea and began to speak slowly.

"My grandfather...that's been so long!"

"To explain in detail, we have to go back to your great-great-grandfather, who is my second uncle..."

"It's been too long, too long, old man. Let's start with my grandfather's story."

The girl nodded as she ate her snack.

This story seems quite interesting.

"Fine, young people these days really have no patience."

Bai Zhou took another sip of tea, slowly exhaling the steam, and then told the girl about that old history.

"..."

"What! The despicable Sarkaz dared to kill my Great Yan people!"

"Well done! Grandpa, you did a great job!"

"Those old codgers are such cowards. They should have been tougher back then, and you could have easily killed them all!"

The girl initially only wanted to hear interesting stories about her grandfather's past, but as events unfolded, the bloodlust flowing in her veins was stirred. She was filled with righteous indignation upon hearing of the people's suffering, wishing she could cleave those blood demons to ashes. But since it had already happened, she could only chew and swallow the pastries in her hand as if they were her enemies. When she heard that Bai Zhou had swept from the north of Kazdel all the way to the Sarkaz capital, she stopped eating her pastries, jumped up, clapped her hands, and cheered, her little tail wagging happily. When she heard that the royal court members had so easily surrendered, her face was full of disdain, and she felt a pang of regret, repeatedly saying it was a pity.

"Ha, you're getting angry with me over this... Although, thinking about it carefully, you did make a mistake, sir. But this was war! You were the enemy! What's wrong with the enemy, isn't it?"

Although she could understand the complicated feelings of the other party when they pleaded with the old man but the old man solved the problem first, the old man was a friend she had known for so many years. How could they break off their friendship over something like this?

"That's just the kind of person she is."

During the day, I slowly sip my tea.

“She is different from me. She is not bound by nationality or race. Her years of traveling the world have made her indifferent to the differences between factions. She will risk her life to get involved in disasters that could drag the world into destruction, even if the two sides were enemies just a second ago; she will also do her best to save the dying creatures in front of her, even if they are complete strangers.”

“At that time… I was the Avenger, I could slaughter the enemy without any burden, but she was a doctor, and the people I killed were people she had just saved, which was unacceptable to her.”

"Besides..."

Bai Zhou gazed at the reflection of the tea in his cup and sighed softly.

"She always wanted to correct my views, to make me transfer my love from Great Yan to all living beings, in order to change my belief that Great Yan is supreme and that the world doesn't matter. By doing so, I was essentially telling her that I was beyond help. I guess it was because she realized that our paths had never intersected from the beginning that she was disappointed."

"Hey, hey, let's not talk about this, old man."

Looking at the gloomy daylight, the girl clicked her tongue and tried to change the subject.

"Speaking of which, old man, who is that pretty girl in the painting hanging in your room? Could she be one of your old romantic entanglements?"

"...Ah, that...that wasn't a romantic entanglement."

Bai Zhou snapped out of his reverie and, upon hearing the little girl's words, even he couldn't help but stammer.

"Oh dear, old man, you're blushing! Tell me about it!"

Seeing Bai Zhou's appearance, the girl felt there was more to it than met the eye, and a happy smile appeared on her face.

"Cough cough... I really can't do anything with you."